Significance of Stratification Index for Salinity using the Marine Environmental Information System in the Nakdong River Estuary, Busan Metropolitan City, South Korea

Abstract

In this study, marine environmental information system (MEIS) data collected after May 2015 were applied to stratification index (SI) of salinity in the Nakdong River Estuary (NRE) front the Noksan floodgate and NRE barrage, Busan Metropolitan City, South Korea. The brackish water zone environments (n = 14, A, B, and C three lines), the temperature, flow direction, flow rate, salinity (psu), pH, and dissolved oxygen concentration of the upper and bottom layers were measured using a multi-parameter display system and recording current meter to assess the ebb and flood of the spring tide during April and July 2018. The average surface layer and lower layer salinities of the Nakdong River located at the bottom of the Noksan floodgate (line A), the Nakdong River on the east side of Eulsukdo Island (line B) and the right main stream of the Nakdong River (line C) were 2.9-18.2 and 12.4-32.5 psu, respectively, and the mean surface